Two becoming fourteen

 These two turned fourteen. It's a funny age as they have elements of little boy and elements of man all mixed in with deep voices and sweat and smelly boots and huge appetites. Strangely there has been a rather delightful return to some very affectionate gestures for their Mum.

Miraculously, they are even showing each other a shaving of affection but I think that's only permissible when one is in rugby gear so one is clear that it is "rough" affectionate.

  

These are the drawings I made them for their birthdays. It was a last minute thought as I had no idea what I was getting them and they actually liked them and have put them up in their room. The transformer is the left hand twin as he was always into being a warrior/ explorer/ space dude. The other one had more of the lego knight about him. He was a little more shy and timid as a wee un but no longer.

How did those big swarthy boys grow out of such poppets. This is one of my favorite photos of them just sitting on the floor in their overalls. They make me laugh, cry, rant, chuckle and tap dance on the front lawn. My first borns. They were never twinny at all just brother's born at the same time. They are each others' greatest opponents and staunchest supporters. As the boyness dwindles away, the idea of having tall men who are my babies is becoming less weird and more interesting.

When we were getting to know each other in the maternity ward, this song kept coming into my head. It always pops back into my consciousness around their birthday although I no longer sing them to sleep with my lullaby version of it. 

Fishy scored a drawing today too as there is more time and space here to make some bigger art than there is at home. The Michelin Man toy appeared on the footpath a few days ago and, as drawing toys is working for me right now, I'm going to follow it for a while. Maybe there could be one for each child like the quilts. Still working on those.

Now for Easter. Bonnets on!

Head Room

I want this on a T-shirt.... one with flattering gathers over the breastage area. My kids are hugging me a lot and I love it but they need a warning sign sometimes! All my other friends and family are giving me the gentlest hugs like I'm all precious and it's kind of nice!I'm not the only one who's fragile. There have been other casualties. There should be more nanna naps for everyone! I decree it!
At such times the troops have rallied and truly miraculous scenes have unfolded. The Big Fella observed a similarity between the 13 year olds and boa constrictors. I enquired if it was because they were cuddly and he answered that it was more about how they spend their whole day sleeping and eating. He says they appear, dishevelled and yawning to stare blankly into the fridge, until he throws some chicken legs toward them. Then they retreat back down to Boysworld to doze and digest further. This one looks quite repulsed by the tactile quality of wet washing but he warmed up....
and they got a system going. I RAN for the camera to record this most rare event. It's like that flower that blooms in the Amazon for five minutes every fifty years! They emerged, they hung laundry, they retreated.
Yesterday the Big Fella and I enjoyed a 'date' to the very well lit HOCA unit which is not as much fun as the hooka unit we attended together in Marrakesh. We got all the drum on chemo and hair falling out and took a stroll through the chemo 'boutique'. It was a bit like a hairdresser's (ironically) with people chatting and drinking tea. I can do that. He prefers going to Southbank I think.
Afterward we had a post- date tea at the Kim Walters Unit where I was introduced to the wig room. I seem to have ended up with a pixie crop of blonder dimensions than I might usually sport. I don't want to buy a wig for just 18 weeks so this one will do. I feel I may be more of a hat person. The generous and lovely wig librarian let me take some hats to try for bald, wintry months.
This little crochet number might be copy-able into rainbow stripes or some black and white or red and white- Dr Seuss meets Olivia!
Lala looks fabulous as a head model without red eyes and black circles. Yes I need more nanna naps too. She says I can wear any of these and she's okay with it...
but, under no circumstances am I to turn up at school pick up in the jester hat!

If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?

There have been too many gadgets going in this neck of the woods. As a humane act, for myself and for them, the boys were dropped in the wilderness to unsquare their eyes. Our wilderness is down the road and around the corner at the end of a suburban street. If you didn't know to look between the roadside trees you would drive straight past it. It holds a treasure trove of wild and marvellous things if you just stop and look.

As you enter the tree line there are wide steps...

leading down to a zig zagging bridge...
and a long curving boardwalk. The boys were specks far up ahead. Shorty loved running fast on this bit, arms a-waving in the air. There have been platypus sightings in this waterhole but you have to be very quiet. We have consequently never seen them.
I kept watching my little Bear Grylls striking poses with one of his oldest friends. He has fancied himself a bit of a wild man since he was about two. We've been poking around in the bush for a long time together, he and I.
He now has a protégée. He picked her up for the last stretch. I think she liked it.
She still thinks a feather is very cool. He has moved onto an i-pod and pocket knife.
It was a cornucopia of magical things down in that creek.
These trees always remind me of sun weathered skin on the old men out West- wrinkled, sinewy, sun spotted and scarred.
These quandong leaves have always been a bit special to us. They are pioneer trees and if you find the red leaf or round blue fruit....

you can usually look up and see one towering over you...
or their buttress roots spreading out beside you.

There was quite a bit of rustling in the leaf litter. We preferred to think it was these little water dragons...
rather than these little water snakes.
Why do they always find the more challenging way to do things? Why am I strangely loving every thing he does this last summer of childhood? Why do you want to hold them closer as they start to stride away?
Ah! Gotcha! Looking back at yo' mama when you hit a small obstacle or are you just smiling at me smiling at you? Be still my achy breaky heart!